urban gardens

A common plague of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants is the brown spot that appears at the bottom, or blossom end, of the fruit. There is no cure but to pluck it immediately and take measures to avoid losing anymore fruit. This blossom end rot is caused by a calcium deficiency so that the end of the fruit furthest from the plant does … Read More

My favorite thing to find in the garden is fruit trees in bloom. The smell, the pop of delicate blossoms, and tiny burgeoning fruits. Unfortunately in most small gardens, fruit trees spend most of the year as thorny tangled messes whose branches lazily droop into nearby vegetable beds. The kindly gardener has to tip-toe around her lemons lest they reach out and tear her sleeve, or worse, … Read More

The folks from Happy Earth, alongside other NSW initiatives, have put together a free temperate gardening guide to help you get started with edible gardening. This climate applies to areas of Australia, the United States, coastal regions, and even parts of up-country Sri Lanka. Click the below to jump to PDF. Margie Bopearatchy Margie is the founder of IG and is passionate about … Read More

Now a little over one year into our Intrepid Gardens experiments, we are re-assessing and implementing new designs before the monsoons in May. Before we get into the to-do’s, we have to be honest about what worked and what failed. The poly bag towers were complete failures on the scorching roof garden. This was obviously a disappointment after seeing great results in … Read More

In addition to our rooftop efforts, we have a tiny courtyard garden to make use of. When I first moved in, the garden had several lovely tropical varieties in pots, but the soil was either paved over or covered in stones to prevent splashing mud during the monsoon seasons. There were no edible varieties, save two tiny curry saplings. There were also … Read More

Intrepid Gardens began in February 2013 as an experimental garden in Colombo, Sri Lanka seeking to provide families and community partners with the resources to grow sustainable food systems in tropical and urban landscapes. With our own 60 square foot rooftop slab, we began experimenting with growing solutions any urbanite could use. Here we share applications and news in permaculture, organics, and sustainable urban living.